Hot on the Trail of Dame Agatha

Nearly three decades after her death, mystery writer Agatha Christie is still making new fans. The Queen of Crime rode the Orient Express on the way to Baghdad as a young divorcee in 1928 and later enjoyed some 30 stays in the Middle East, which she and her second husband, archeologist Max Mallowan, explored from a home base in Baghdad. Christie, who was named Dame Commander, Order of the British Empire, in 1971 for services to enthralled readers, made the region a setting for many of her books.

British travel writer Andrew Eames retraced Christie’s journey for “The 8:55 to Baghdad: From London to Iraq on the Trail of Agatha Christie” (The Overlook Press, $24.95), due in May. Eames rode today’s Venice Simplon-Orient Express, caught local trains to Istanbul, Turkey, grabbed the Taurus Express to Damascus, then made his way to Baghdad. He finds much to admire amid instability and squalor: As Eames reminds us, Iraq is believed to be the site of the biblical Garden of Eden. Until we can visit up close, the armchair express is booking passengers.